Putting in place
a mobile strategy is no longer a nice-to-have, it is
the essential weapon
in a fast-paced and competitive sector.
EyeforTravel.com identifies some emerging themes

August 1, 2012 - One thing is
certain: the mobile channel is here to stay. The research - from a
number of different sources - backs this up. IDC predicts that by
2015 smartphone sales will reach 982 million and according to Morgan
Stanley, by 2014, mobile web users will surpass 'traditional' desktop
Internet users. Travel firms, it seems are taking this seriously too; a
recent Airline IT Trends survey finds that nine out of ten airlines are
planning to sell tickets via mobile by 2015.

For online hotel booking firm,
HotelTonight, the single biggest trend to emerge in 2012 will be the
continued penetration of smartphones and the resulting shift of
everyday activities from PC-based websites to the device in the
customers' pocket. "We believe the smartphone will become the new
laptop and the resulting opportunities and challenges for businesses
will be extreme," says Jared Simon chief operating officer of
HotelTonight.com. So which platforms is HotelTonight focusing its
energy: on iOS and Android, of course although Simon says "we are
always ready to move on a dime to take advantage of trends in this
fast-paced mobile environment".

Chris Blakely, vice-president of client services at comScore seems to
be singing from the same hymn sheet. For him the biggest trend for 2012
is: "Continued growth of smartphone ownership in general, and the use
of Android and iOS platforms in particular which are the core "rising
tide that lifts all boats".

For many firms, says Max Starkov president and chief executive of
HebsDigital, the mobile channel is already a real travel planning and
hotel distribution channel and this is especially true for so-called
'drive-in and last-minute travel markets'. But going forward, even that
may be changing. Priceline.com vice-president for corporate strategy,
Todd Henrich, says that all the research points to the fact that
consumers are becoming more mobile and before long they will be booking
travel via mobile too - and this, he says, "this won't necessarily just
be the case for last-minute bookings".

2.
M-Commerce is ramping up but it is still the Wild West

It may still be a minority of
smartphone users who are using their phones to transact, pay bills,
shop and interact but this is changing as consumers become increasingly
comfortable using their phone for commerce. This trend will only
continue. In fact during May, online travel agency, Orbitz, reported
that 6 million people used a mobile device to shop for travel, more
than doubling numbers on the previous year. During the first quarter of
the year, more than 9% of Orbitz hotel bookings were made via mobile
devices.

Comscore, for one, is seeing big across-the-board growth in categories
involving mobile transactions. "Consumers are becoming
increasingly comfortable using their phone for commerce and this is a
trend that will only continue," says Blakely.

But when it comes to what technology will win the day in mobile
commerce this is still very much the Wild West.

"Any technology that makes commerce even easier on mobile devices is
going to gain huge traction. I'm looking forward to the day that
I no longer have to carry a wallet, and I think that day isn't too far
off. NFC isn't the only means of getting there, but it certainly
looks like a promising one," says Simon.

Blakely, however, is not so convinced. Today, he argues, NFC-enabled
handsets are owned by a very small number of consumers and there
continues to be lots of jockeying among credit card companies, mobile
operators and others for a piece of the 'payment pie'. "That said
we're seeing a rise in the use of phones for making online payments via
existing services like PayPal and a host of startups offering
point-of-sale solutions for payment and loyalty tracking such as Square
and Level Up," says Blakely.

3.
The merging of social, local and mobile is "not just a flickering
hope"

There is continued growth in
social, local and mobile and while this is great news for travellers,
the providers of travel should not forget that it presents several
opportunities. "It's never been easier for people on the go to navigate
a strange city and discover places, find merchants or a great meal
while travelling," says Blakely.

Firms like HotelTonight and Uber, that have embraced mobile as an
entirely new medium with completely different user dynamics and use
cases are not just a flickering 'hope' right now, they are "hot and
will continue to gain momentum," says Simon.

He also believes that pure social players will need to adapt their
offerings to the increasing utility function of smartphones or risk
becoming "afterthoughts". Foursquare is one firm that understood this
changing dynamic: it has has morphed from a location check-in service
to one that provides full-featured local discovery and recommendations
and opportunities for sales too.

While calling Facebook 'hype' might be a step too far, in recent months
the firm has certainly been grappling with how it monetises use of its
'service' on a mobile phone - this is something it will be thinking
about very seriously.

4.
Discounting in the mobile channel is a mistake

"The most common mistake made by hoteliers today is
discounting in the mobile channel," HebsDigital's Starkov. He cannot
stress this strongly enough. And so what are his top tips:

"Services that take into
account geographic, usage and other contexts to know what users want
before they actually do are not too far off in mobile," says
HotelTonight's Simon.

For Blakely the thing to be watching closely is multi-screen services
that allow you to seamlessly move from phone to tablet to computer to
TV and back again, providing cloud-based syncing of content,
experiences and shopping carts.

According to Google, 7% of all searches already come from tablets
versus 14% from mobile and 79% from desktop. But watch out for
rapid growth in this channel too; while most tablet usage is currently
occurring in the home, it is fast becoming a go-to device for road
warriors. Whatever your view today on tablets, Starkov president says
2013 will be the year this channel really takes off.

If anything says Starkov, travel marketers should be budgeting more for
mobile "Marketers should be spending at least 15% of their overall
digital marketing budgets on mobile marketing initiatives," he says.
This includes a bigger focus on optimisation, upgrades to the mobile
website, mobile SEO, mobile display advertising and text marketing
initiatives - to name but a few. So put those on the list for the
coming year.

If you are in any doubt that mobile is going to be centre stage for the
foreseeable future, please take a bow and leave now.

EyeforTravel is a leading
business
intelligence
provider for the online travel and tourism industry. As well as
providing some
of the most in-depth research into global online travel markets and
trends,
EyeforTravel produces a series of senior executive travel conferences
on a
diverse range of topics including travel distribution, online
marketing, social
media, mobile and revenue management. For more information
visit www.eyefortravel.com.